GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this model. It features 336 SPUs as well as 56 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 113 Watts (240%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB should in theory be much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 102400 (800%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB is much (more or less 338%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29160 (338%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 2GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 17280 (400%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.